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Mental and Behavioral Dysfunction in Movement Disorders pp 467–476Cite as

In Search of the Pathophysiology of Tourette Syndrome

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Abstract

Despite the overt nature of tics and several decades of scientific scrutiny, ignorance concerning the pathophysiology of Tourette syndrome (TS) and other tic disorders remains profound. Notions of cause have ranged from an “irritation of the motor neural systems by toxic substances, of a self-poisoning bacteriological origin” to “hereditary degeneration” to “a constitutional inferiority of the subcortical structures ... [that] renders the individual defenseless against overwhelming emotional and dynamic forces” (1). Predictably, each of these etiological explanations has prompted new treatments and ways of relating to families. This chapter reviews the various risk factors that have been implicated in the development of TS before critically reviewing three current theories of TS pathogenesis.

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Authors
  1. James F. Leckman MD
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal, Canada

    Marc-André Bédard MSc, PhD

  2. Hôpital de la Salpêtrière, Paris, France

    Yves Agid MD, PhD

  3. Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada

    Sylvain Chouinard MD  & Paul Lespérance MD, MSc  & 

  4. Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Stanley Fahn MD

  5. Tel-Aviv University Medical School, Tel-Aviv, Israel

    Amos D. Korczyn MD, MSc

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Leckman, J.F. (2003). In Search of the Pathophysiology of Tourette Syndrome. In: Bédard, MA., Agid, Y., Chouinard, S., Fahn, S., Korczyn, A.D., Lespérance, P. (eds) Mental and Behavioral Dysfunction in Movement Disorders. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-326-2_34

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-59259-326-2_34

  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, Totowa, NJ

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